


Into the Wonderland

by Yukio



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Ateez Comeback, Dark Ateez, Gen, KQ story event, hourglass - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25200133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yukio/pseuds/Yukio
Summary: One by one, they disappear into an unknown land, cutting their ties with the rest. Wooyoung watches with dispair how their group is getting smaller and he knows he's next to leave.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Into the Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally written for the story event announced by the KQ. I'm still kind of upset about how they managed the event and that they made it really hard to participate. Therefore I want to thank my friend who helped me with vpn and all the things concerning the participation. Since the site is still forbidden for the international fanbase and my story wasn't nominated, I decided to post it here. 
> 
> As always, I want to thank Ravenshell for checking my grammar <3

Wooyoung watched the reflection of himself in an old, stained mirror. His face looked oddly contorted and blotchy and it didn’t show the wet trails stretching down his cheeks. Looking into his own eyes, he could see nothing but emptiness.

He didn’t know when everything started changing. The world around him had lost its distinct contours and his memories had become foggy.

Things had been changing and the change was scary.

It started when they found out Hongjoong, their leader, was missing. They felt like abandoned puppies, not knowing what to do and where to go. The road that had been so clear right in front of them, suddenly vanished into nothing.

Seonghwa said he had a lead. He packed his backpack and set off on a journey. No one knew where to, becasue he never said; he only mentioned HER. Whoever SHE was, she had become a demon, lurking in the shadows. She took the eldest member away from them. They never knew if he had ever found her.

Yunho couldn’t take it. Nothing made sense anymore. He took off without telling anyone. Then Yeosang said something about seeing eerie figures in his sleep, calling him to the places where stars where brighter and songs more beautiful. He thought that the same happened to Yunho and the older members.

“They went to find the Wonderland,” he said.

Yeosang left shortly after, going to look for the mysterious stars, blind to the ones above his head. He was the only one who cared to say goodbye.

Four of them were still there, but Wooyoung felt it in his bones that San would leave soon, too. Wooyoung couldn’t let it happen.

“San, promise me that you are not going to leave. You are NOT going to leave us behind. To leave ME behind. Swear on our friendship. Swear that _Amicus ad Aras_ will always be here.”

“What are you saying, Wooyoung? Of course it will. I promise,” San said, sounding rather offended. And yet…

Wooyoung started noticing how forlorn San suddenly looked. When he sang, the world was filled with sorrow. When he danced, there was no heart in it.

Just a few days later, while traveling together in a car, San suddenly stared at Wooyoung with an apology in his eyes, his voice trembling as he spoke.

“I’m so sorry, Wooyoung. I… I need to go.”

“What!?” Wooyoung cried in astonishment, his heart racing. “What do you mean? Where do you want to go? Why?”

“Where everyone goes. To the Wonderland,” San said, his voice strangely distant.

“What are you talking about?” Wooyoung squealed, close to hysteria.

San smiled, his dimples showing. Wooyoung realized with painful certainty that that smile didn’t belong to him, but something mysterious and scary.

“I had a dream,” San said as if it explained everything. “I can’t live here anymore.”

The car stopped at a traffic light and the older boy reached for the door to open it.

“Wait!” Wooyoung cried, panicked. “What about me? You promised you wouldn’t leave me! Take me with you at least!”

“I’m sorry, Wooyoung, I can’t,” San said with a sad smile. “You are not ready yet. Until next time. Take care of yourself and the others,” he said gently, and before Wooyoung could do anything about it, he jumped out of the car and ran as fast as he could along the road until he took the first turn and disappeared from sight.

When Wooyoung got back to dorms, he spent a long time shut in his room, just staring at a wall. San had left him behind despite his promise and he was not coming back, that was for sure. _Amicus ad Aras_ lost in time. Friends till the End. But where was the Friend now? Where was the End? And what did San’s words about Wooyoung being not ready mean?

“I don’t dream, so I’m not going anywhere,” Mingi announced, convinced. But no more than two days later, his words changed. “I’m next,” he said to Wooyoung and Jongho.

“How do you know?” Wooyoung asked.

“The dream,” Mingi said. “A dark figure told me that everything started and ended in an hourglass.”

“What does that mean?”

Mingi shrugged. “No idea. I just know I’m leaving. Don’t know when, don’t know where, but I am.”

The next morning Wooyoung and Jongho searched the dorms, but there was no sign of Mingi.

“It’s your turn now,” Jongho said to Wooyoung, sadness lacing his tone.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Wooyoung tried to sound angry, but he couldn’t hide the worry in his voice. He knew that Jongho had a point. Everyone had left. Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi… And soon, Wooyoung was going to leave as well.

Wooyoung loathed the idea of Jongho having to stay here alone and wait until his time here was up, too, and he was terrified of the unknown. He fought hard not to fall asleep so that no dream could capture him by its magic and send him away to the place with no return.

A dark man approached him.

“You live in an hourglass,” he said to Wooyoung in a voice that strangely sounded like his own. “Your time has come.” After saying that, he vanished in the first rays of the morning sun.

Wooyoung woke up with a start, panting as if he had run a marathon, his heart beating like crazy. The memory of the man from his dream was still vivid in his mind.

When Jongho saw him that morning, he knew immediately and the sadness in his eyes became more prominent.

That was how Wooyoung found himself standing in front of the old, stained mirror, knowing that he was leaving. He didn’t know if he was going to meet the others, but he knew he was going to the same place. He could see his own empty eyes staring back at him. His face was covered by a black mask, a black hat sitting on his head, his body dressed in black clothes.

Wooyoung took a step forward, leaving Jongho, his life and everything he knew behind.

***

“The last one is coming,” Hongjoong said, holding an hourglass in his hands and watching, fascinated, as snow-white sand poured from the bottom to the top. That was his heart, crystalized and shattered, just a small sacrifice for seven souls trapped in time. 

“He will complete the chain and the new era will come. It will be known as _Fever._ ”


End file.
